The views and opinions of Caitlyn Martin on our world, politics, music, and anything else that strikes her fancy.

Monday, September 3, 2007

So Predictable

The responses to my previous post on the blatant sexist attitudes of some IT recruiters was originally posted on the O'Reilly Linux Dev Center blog. The usual responses, the ones that are so very predictable, the ones that are repeated over and over again by a certain loud minority of male commenters, the ones that turn up every time there is a discussion of gender related in any way to the world of computing, have once again reared their ugly heads.

I've been told I'm "oversensitive" and I should "just roll with it". I've been accused of calling all men "male chauvanist pigs", a phrase I'm sure I've never used to describe anyone. I've had my experiences dismissed and been called naive. I've been told to "quit bitchin". All of these posters are male. None have experienced the type of sexism I'm describing. Many posts are just plain immature, defensive, argumentative, and/or just plain offensive. Some guys are just plain clueless and don't want to even consider other people's feelings and experiences.

Why am I not surprised?

Yes, there have been a handful of clueful responses but they have been overwhelmed by the other type.

Why do I bother with posts like this? The best way to tackle a problem like sexism is to shine a light on it and bring it out in the open. If I get even one person to reconsider their actions or attitudes it's all worthwhile. I had a little proof that I do have a small positive impact this week. The following was written by Joseph James Frantz in the comments to Carla Schroder's article about the offensive ad at Linux Journal:

Thank you for educating me on the term feminazi. I have never considered those aspects of the term. From now on, if I should disagree with a woman, I will not use that term.